Danny & the Juniors were an Americandoo-wop and rock and roll vocal group formed inPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania. Originally consisting ofDanny Rapp,Dave White, Frank Maffei and Joe Terranova, the group was formed in 1955. They are best known for their 1957 no. 1 hit "At the Hop" and their 1958 follow-up hit "Rock and Roll Is Here to Stay".^[1]

Danny & the Juniors
From left to right:Danny Rapp,David White, Joe Terranova, Frank Maffei
Background information
Origin	Philadelphia,PennsylvaniaUnited States
Genres	Doo-wop,rock and roll
Years active	1955–2019 (on hiatus)
Labels	Swan,ABC, Guyden,Mercury,Capitol,His Master's Voice
Members	Frank Maffei Bobby Maffei
Past members	Danny Rapp David White Joe Terranova

Danny Rapp (lead), Frank Maffei (2nd tenor), Joe Terranova (a.k.a. Joe Terry) (baritone), and Dave White Tricker (a.k.a. Dave White) (first tenor) met atJohn Bartram High School and started singing together in the mid-1950s.^[1] Known as the Juvenaires at the time, they sang at school parties and other local events. Local record producerJohn Madara took notice of them and introduced them to local DJs Larry Brown andArtie Singer, who had a record label known as Singular Records. In 1957, as Johnny Madara and The Juvenaires, they recorded a song written by Madara and White, "Do the Bop". Singer took it to a fellow DJ namedDick Clark.^[1] Clark liked it and suggested changing their name to the Juniors and renaming their song. The song was recorded as "At The Hop", this time with Danny Rapp on the lead vocal.^[2] Changing "Let's all do the bop" to "Let's go to the Hop" proved to be successful, and it became a local hit in June 1957. In December 1957, they received a call from Dick Clark to be a last-minute substitution for a no-show band onAmerican Bandstand, and they performed it for a national audience.^[2] The song became a nationwide hit afterABC Paramount bought the master recording and issued it in January 1958.^[1] They soon appeared onThe Pat Boone Chevy Showroom and other national TV shows. Soon after, they recorded "Rock and Roll Is Here To Stay" and "Dottie", both of which charted.^[1] In the fall of 1957, David began attendingTemple University and was on the gym team, but quit school when the group started making personal appearances.

"At the Hop" reached no. 1 on theBillboard pop singles chart and the R&B singles chart in 1958. In the UK that year, "At the Hop" reached no. 3 on the Record Retailers (RR) chart. "At the Hop" returned to the Top 40 in the UK in 1976, reaching no. 39 on the Record Retailers chart.

The group appeared in the 1958 jukebox musicalLet's Rock withJulius LaRosa,Paul Anka, andThe Royal Teens. They performed the song "At the Hop".

In 1960, the band was signed to Dick Clark'sSwan Recordslabel, and they released one more record, "Twistin' USA".^[1] It made it into theTop 40, and became their final hit single. They went on to release several more singles, but were not able to repeat their earlier successes.

White left the group sometime near the end of the band’s recording career in the early 1960s to concentrate onwriting andproduction. He was very successful in this venture, composing a number of hits, including "You Don't Own Me" forLesley Gore, and "1-2-3" and "Like a Baby" forLen Barry.^[1]

Through the rest of the 1960s, the Juniors also appeared on Guyden Records,Mercury Records, and Luv Records (a subsidiary ofBell Records), where they re-recorded "Rock 'n' Roll Is Here To Stay" in 1968. In 1973, they re-recorded "At The Hop" for Crunch Records, which was owned by the same company that owned theirABC-Paramount Records master recordings.

In 1976, "At the Hop" was re-issued, and it made its way into the Top 40 of theUK Singles Chart, reaching no. 39.^[1] The single was commercially used for theCanadian National Exhibition, changing the words to "Let's go to the Ex" rather than "Let's go to the hop." It was parodied by the bandDash Rip Rock with their single entitled "Let's Go Smoke Some Pot", and byNRBQ during the1973 energy crisis under the title "Get That Gasoline".

The group appeared in the 1973Columbia Pictures concert filmLet the Good Times Roll hosted byRichard Nader. This was one of the first 1950s-themed nostalgia films.

Billy Carlucci, Joe "Terry" Terranova, and Frank Maffei appeared on season 3, episode 3, of the syndicated seriesSha Na Na as Danny and the Juniors performing "At the Hop", "Twistin' U.S.A.", and "Rock and Roll is Here to Stay".

Danny & the Juniors, featuring Joe Terry, continued to tour, with Terranova singing lead, along with Maffei and Maffei's brother, Bobby Maffei. They appeared at music festivals in England following release of their Swan recordings by Rollercoaster Records, who had acquired the original master tapes. From September 2011, Frank Maffei and Terranova presented an hour-long rock'n'roll radio special for London's Covent Garden Radio in the UK.

Rapp was found dead in ahotel inArizona on April 5, 1983, an apparentsuicide.^[1]

David White died on March 16, 2019, at the age of 79.^[3]

Joe Terranova died on April 15, 2019, aged 78.^[4]

• Danny Rapp (born Daniel Earl Rapp, May 9, 1941,Philadelphia – died April 5, 1983) — lead vocalist (1958–1983; his death)
• Joe Terry (born Joseph Angelo Terranova, January 30, 1941, Philadelphia – died April 15, 2019)^[5] — lead/baritone vocalist (1958–2019; his death)
• Dave White (born David Ernest White, November 26, 1939, Philadelphia - died March 16, 2019) — first tenor vocalist^[3] (1958–early 1960s; died 2019)
• Frank Maffei (born December 15, 1939, Philadelphia) — baritone/second tenor vocalist (1958–2019)
• Bobby Maffei (born December 14, 1940, Philadelphia) — first tenor vocalist (c. 1983–2019)

Danny & the Juniors were inducted into TheVocal Group Hall of Fame in 2003, and the group was inducted into the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia Hall of Fame on November 22, 2013.

Despite the sizable output released by Danny & The Juniors from the late 1950s to early 1960s, no albums were released during that time. The first compilation album was released in 1983:Rockin' With Danny and The Juniors on MCA; this was followed over the years by several other compilations on vinyl and CD.

• Danny & The Juniors Official Website
• The Vocal Group Hall of Fame: Danny and the Juniors
• Danny & the Juniors discography atDiscogs
• Danny & the Juniors atIMDb